


Ninjequestrians

by yellowbubble334



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Equestrians, Angst, Animals, Anxiety, Developing Friendships, Equestrian, Eye Trauma, Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Horseback Riding, Horses, Social Anxiety, Trauma, Zane and P.I.X.A.L. are the only ones actually together, but ship whoever you want, but they don't really get together so ye, idk its an equestrian au, oh yeah and my oc I ship with Lloyd is in it too, theres not much romance its mostly angst and fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-24 11:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21098558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellowbubble334/pseuds/yellowbubble334
Summary: After a horrible accident, Lloyd has stayed off horses for a year.  When his uncle invited him out to his barn, Lloyd was hesitant, but knew he needed he'd have to get over his fears eventually.  He'll ride again.  Eventually.  For sure.  He's just got some stuff to get over first.





	Ninjequestrians

**Author's Note:**

> K so quick disclaimer, I don't ride English style, and I'm not a jumper, but a few characters in the fic do ride English and jump, so some of the stuff with English riding will probably be inaccurate. I tried to do as much research as I could, but if anyone is an English rider and wants to help me out hmu cuz I could use it. I’ve only been riding for like 5-6 years and the things I reference and talk about in the fic is a mix of my personal experience, as well as things I’ve learned and heard from other people so it might be different or smt… Anyway yeah enjoy I guess. Oh yeah, also I’m not doing it for this chapter but I’m considering putting in a glossary at the beginning for people who don’t know as much about horses so let me know if you want that. For this chapter you can look terms up or ask in a comment I guess. Uh yeah that’s it enjoy idk.

“There he goes! Off to the next jump! These two are quite the team!” 

Lloyd cantered on after going over the third jump of the course. He had practiced excessively for this show. If he managed to place high enough, he could make it to the championships. Today, Lloyd was doing amazing, and he was feeling confident.

He took a wide turn, lining up for the next jump. His pace was good, his posture was good, everything was great. 

However, despite his confidence, something felt wrong. Lloyd had a heaviness in the pit of his stomach. He had told myself it was just nervousness for the show, but it usually goes away when he enters the arena. 

Lloyd brushed it off as he approached the next jump.

“And he’s approaching the next jump…”

Lloyd let out a sigh and leaned forward, putting his hands forward as they sailed over the jump effortlessly.

“Beautiful execution!”

"These two have been doing incredible recently and they do not disappoint."

Lloyd let out a laugh and patted his partner’s neck as she let out a snort and tossed her head. They slowed down as they went forward, approaching a combination jump.

Lloyd sucked in a breath as they went over the first, then second without any problems.

Lloyd was on the top of his game, and his confidence began to drown out the small worries he had. 

He took a moment to glance at his beautiful palomino mare. Lloyd had received her as a gift for his eleventh birthday when she was a foal. He’d partially trained her himself, with help from his uncle. He’d grown up with her for five years, and they both fell in love with jumping.

She was his best friend, and Lloyd couldn’t live without her.

They were approaching the end of the course, with only a few more jumps to go. The next one was a water jump. Lloyd always felt nervous going over these jumps for some reason, but they managed to clear it almost fine. Her last hoof barely touched the water.

“Ooh, jumped a little short there but it hasn’t slowed them down.”

No one ever showed up to Lloyd’s shows. His parents were always busy, and frankly weren’t interested in horses. Lloyd didn’t have any friends or anything either. His uncle was busy with things too, but he did make an effort to go to as many of Lloyd’s shows that he could. This time, however, he wasn’t watching.

The only one here to support Lloyd was his horse.

The two cantered onward, heading toward a wall jump.

“Alright he’s heading toward the highest jump… There have been a lot of refusals here today, let’s hope these two do not follow the trend…”

Lloyd took in a breath and tapped his partner to pick up speed.

“It’s okay…” he whispered to her. Her ears flicked back, and Lloyd knew she was listening. “You got this…”  
She flicked her ears back forward and prepared for the jump as Lloyd settled back into his seat.

They started straight ahead. Lloyd leaned forward, ready for the jump. Suddenly, the nervousness returned from before. Right before the jump.

She picked up on his fear, and let out a whinny. It seemed like she wanted to refuse, but she went along with the jump anyway. 

She leaped over slightly early, catching Lloyd off guard. He felt her back hoof catch on the jump, causing the top of the wall to crumble. However, he was severely off balance. His panic only made things worse. The horse pitched forward, tripping when she tried to land.

Lloyd sailed over her head, landing on her neck, and her head went straight at the ground.

There was a loud snap, and everything went black.

(One Year Later)

Lloyd woke with a start, panting. He glanced around his room, thinking for a second that he was back in his old home last year, with the responsibility of waking up early to drive over to the barn and feed Jitzu. Of course, he doesn’t need to worry about her anymore.

He shook my head.  _ No, we are not going to spend another day crying. _

Lloyd tossed off his blankets and reached over to grab his phone sitting on the bedside table.

“Okay… What’s on the agenda today…?”

He looked at his calendar with a yawn, making his way to the small kitchen area of the apartment.

There wasn’t much to eat in the cupboards, and he didn’t have much money at the moment to go shopping.

Lloyd groaned. “Guess we’re settling for a banana today…”

He leaned against the counter casually as he ate, scrolling through the calendar. When he got to today, he nearly choked.

“Shit!” Lloyd stumbled over to his dresser, throwing it open and grabbing a handful of clothes. He held his banana gently between his teeth, hoping it wouldn’t fall to the floor.

Lloyd had completely forgotten that today was the day he had to drive for eighteen hours alone in the rain, over to his uncle’s barn out in the middle of nowhere. Lloyd hadn’t seen him in about eight months, and he’d been asking him to come out to his barn for almost the whole time he’d been away.

It was gonna be great. He hadn’t been around horses since… well since the incident. He was lonely and felt empty with nothing to do, but he needed the break. Although Lloyd was nowhere near ready for another horse of his own, he felt excited to finally get back to a barn.

However, in order to make it today without needing to spend the night in a hotel, he’d have to leave in about… ten minutes.

And he hadn’t packed yet.

Lloyd dropped some clothes on his bed and reached under it to grab his suitcase. Without folding or organizing, he shoved all the clothes into the bag and zipped it up. 

Finishing his banana quickly, he dashed into the bathroom. When he finished his breakfast he quickly brushed his teeth and made a futile attempt at fix his hair, before getting dressed, grabbing his bag, and running outside, almost forgetting to lock his apartment behind me.

Lloyd hopped in his truck and got ready to leave immediately, wasting no time. He itched with excitement. Part of him was afraid his uncle would try to convince him to ride, which he didn’t want to do, but the other part was hoping he would convince him to ride. He missed it so much.

With that, Lloyd took a deep breath, and started his drive.

* * *

Due to horrible weather and his need to pee and eat, he ended up getting a hotel for the night, which was less than ideal.

Lloyd called his uncle to apologize for being late, but the voice that answered the phone was definitely not his uncle.

“Ninjago Horse Farm here, what’s up?”

_ Ninjago _ Horse Farm…? Is that really what Lloyd’s uncle called his place?

“Uh… is Wu there?”

The guy on the other line answered right away. “Well, he’s here, but he went to bed ‘bout an hour ago. I can get a message to him though.”

“Uh, just tell him that I’m sorry I’m running late. The weather was awful and uh… Just- I’ll be there at about twelve tomorrow afternoon.”

The other line was silent.

“H-hello?”

“Yeah uh… I’m a little slow so you’ll have to give me a sec uh, who’s this exactly?”

“Oh, uh, my name is Lloyd, he’ll know me if you tell him.”

The voice laughed. “Oh yeah! It’s alright dude I’ll let him know.”

“O-okay?”  
“Goodnight dude, see ya tomorrow!”

“Um-”

He hung up, leaving Lloyd in utter confusion. Who was that? Why did he act like he knew him? Lloyd knew there were people who boarded at his uncle’s barn, but he didn’t think his uncle would be close with them. No one had ever been close with the other people who boarded at Lloyd’s old barn.

Lloyd shrugged it off, deciding he was way too tired to care. He climbed into bed and spent a long time staring at the ceiling. Was it a good idea to be going back to a barn? Maybe he should just go home now, forget about horses, and move on.

Lloyd sighed. No, he wouldn’t be able to stay away from horses his whole life. Somehow, he’d find my way back. He’d just get it over with now.

After the incident, Lloyd wouldn’t talk to anyone, not even his uncle for months. He didn’t eat, didn’t sleep, it was awful. Somehow Lloyd brought himself out of it and started living again, but he would not go near a horse. The painful memories of Jitzu would rush back if he even smelled the countryside. His uncle finally helped him, but at that time, he didn’t own a barn. Now it was going to be his 18th birthday in a few days, and his uncle insisted he spend time with him. Lloyd thought about it for days before deciding it was about time he gets over it and head out to the barn to see him again. He planned to stay for a month, and spend all the time with his uncle.

However, if there was going to be other riders there… who were going to try and befriend him… Lloyd wasn’t so sure he wanted to go anymore. He was ready to see horses again, but there was no way he’d make friends. That was on the very end of his to do list. No, it wasn’t even on the to do list in the first place.

Eventually Lloyd fell asleep, and luckily, didn’t have any dreams of past trauma that night. 

* * *

Lloyd woke to bright lights streaming through the windows, and for a second, he forgot where he was. When he remembered, he calmed down, but he was worried he had woken up too late. He realized he’d forgotten to set an alarm the night before.

Lloyd reached for his phone to find that it wasn't on the bedside table. He sat up and spotted it on the small table next to the TV on the other side of the hotel room.

Groaning he threw off the covers and shambled over to check the time. It was 9:03, good, he had time. There was only about two and a half hours left of his drive, meaning he had about a half hour to get ready before he had to leave.

Lloyd decided maybe it'd be a good idea to head down and get a quick breakfast before he had to head out.

He got dressed quickly and packed some of his stuff up so he could dash out quickly if breakfast went later than planned.

Lloyd grabbed a muffin and a banana. He was never really hungry, and he started to realize that he didn't eat as much since he stopped riding. He used to think that was a good thing, but now he would get disappointed when every meal had leftovers.

For a while Lloyd ate in peace, thinking about how he'd convince the strangers at the barn to leave him alone when he noticed someone who sat at the table next to him. Out of curiosity, he glanced over and immediately he could tell he was a rider. 

The boy’s face was smeared with dirt, and his legs were covered by long, muddy jeans. He wore an old gray hoodie with the name of a rodeo on it. His look was finished with a pair of cowboy boots and glasses that had most definitely needed to be fixed more than once. He seemed to be the same age as Lloyd. If not, slightly older.

He must have felt me staring because he looked over and caught my gaze.

“Something wrong?”

Lloyd blinked and looked back down at the table in embarrassment. “Uh… n-no you just uh, you look like-”

“Like a country kid?” He laughed. “Yeah, cuz I am.”

Lloyd looked up again to see him smiling in amusement. “I don't mean it in a bad way or anything, I just… do you ride?” He blurted, not really finding a better way to ask the question.

He laughed. “Yeah. Why? You interested in lessons or something?” 

Lloyd shook his head. “Um, well no. I was just asking because I'm heading to a place called uh, Ninjago Horse Farm, I think… you ride there?” 

The boy scoffed. “Nah, I go to a different barn. Ninjago Horse Farm is one of our biggest rivals.”

“Oh…” Lloyd turned back to his food, planning to end the conversation, but he spoke up again.

“Why'd you ask?” 

He shrugged. “My uncle owns it, and he asked me to come visit so I'm on my way down there now. I was just wondering if you were going the same way. It'd make the journey easier if I could follow someone who knew where they were going.”

“Well I do know where it is. I've showed there a few times. I could give you an escort.”

“Oh, uh, great!” 

“When are you heading out?” 

Lloyd glanced down at his phone. “I've got about fifteen minutes.”

“Cool.”

There was another awkward silence until something he had said stuck out in Lloyd’s mind.

“Wait, you said-”

“Hold that thought. If we're gonna continue this conversation, then I might as well…” He stood up, grabbing his things and casually sitting down at Lloyd’s table. “Okay, go ahead.”

Lloyd blinked. “Oh uh, you mentioned you went to my uncle's stable for a show, yet you're wearing a rodeo hoodie…”

“Oh yeah, I do both.”

Lloyd raised his eyebrows. “Really? What exactly do you do?”

“Well although it's true I do both, I usually ride Western, and I'm more focused around barrel racing, but I'm learning jumping right now, and actually, I'm working with a few people to find a bitless alternative for dressage events.”

Lloyd smiled slightly. “Wow, that's pretty neat. Do you have one horse or…”

“I've got three.”

“Three?! What job do you have?!” He regretted asking as soon as the words left his mouth.

_ That was a really rude question… Why did I say that? _

The boy chuckled, not seeming to mind. “I work a few jobs whenever I'm not riding, and even though it's hard, it's totally worth it to take care of ‘em.”

“Well tell me about them! You can't just say you have three horses and expect me to not want to know more!” Lloyd usually wasn't so eager to talk to strangers, but this boy seemed pretty nice, and if he could do all that he said he could, then Lloyd wanted to know more.

“Well, I've got a seven year old chestnut gelding that I use for barrel racing, a five year old buckskin mare I’m training for jumping, and a yearling colt I'm hoping to turn into a lesson horse.” 

Lloyd nodded. 

“You have any horses?”

Lloyd flinched. “Well uh… I…” he failed to come up with a way to avoid the question, so he simply sighed, sinking back in his seat. “I'd rather not talk about it…” he whispered.

The boy seemed to understand. “Oh, uh I’m sorry…”

Lloyd shook the thought away and smiled. “Ya know, I didn’t get your name.”

He chuckled, “Oh yeah! My name’s Kaari, what about you?”

“Lloyd.” he hesitated, unsure if they were supposed to shake hands, now that they’d officially met.

Kaari didn’t make any attempt to do so and instead turned to his smoothie. 

There was once again awkward silence for a while. Luckily, they finished their breakfast quickly, giving Lloyd time to grab his stuff from the hotel room.

Kaari followed close behind as they headed towards the elevator.

“Hey, so F.Y.I., the barn  _ I  _ go to is closer, so I’ll be able to lead you about four-fifths of the way there, but the last part is really easy to remember,” Kaari told Lloyd as they walked down the hall.

“Okay, but how will I know when to stop following you?”

Kaari shrugged. “You could give me your number.”

“What?”

“Give me your number. We can talk through speaker phone on the drive, it’ll keep us from getting bored, and I can tell you where to go once I have to turn off.”

Lloyd nodded. “Uh, yeah okay.” He gave Kaari his number as they reached Lloyd’s hotel room. 

“Here, I can take your bags,” Kaari offered as he reached for Lloyd’s stuff. “Or, bag…”

“O-oh… are you sure? You don’t have to.”

Kaari nodded. “It’s totally fine. I feel bad just standing and waiting.”

We hurried to the cars and set off.

He was right, having someone to talk to on the drive was helpful, and Lloyd was a lot less bored than when he had driven here yesterday.

“Alright Lloyd, this is it. You’ve got about twenty more minutes of this drive,” Kaari said as they approached the road he needed to turn on. “Just keep going straight, then turn off on Boogara street in ten miles and keep going straight on that road. The barn is at a dead end.”

Lloyd panicked slightly, his anxiety making him worried that he wouldn't be able to follow those very simple directions. 

“Okay,” he responded with false confidence.

They were silent for a few seconds, and Lloyd saw Kaari turn on his blinker up ahead.

“Okay, uh, bye.”

“Bye.”

He hung up, and Lloyd continued in silence, once again bored. He turned up the music on the radio, but the only type of music that was playing out there was country. Lloyd groaned and plugged in his phone, putting on his own playlist.

_ Now, what street did he say to turn on again? Right, Boogara, in ten miles. _

Out of fear that he would forget, he repeated the name over and over, no longer listening to the music.

After about ten minutes of driving, humming along to  _ I Write Sins Not Tragedies  _ by  _ Panic! At the Disco  _ he saw the road up ahead and pushed down on the brake a little too quickly. He scolded myself for not paying attention, and turned on his blinker. 

_ What were the rest of the instructions? Keep driving down this road until you get to a dead end. The barn is at the end of the dead end. _

I took the turn and let out a sigh. Now that he was on the road, he could relax a bit knowing he was going the right way.

For the last ten minutes of the drive, his heart started pounding, and he was getting nervous. He hadn’t seen his uncle in forever. What if he thought Lloyd changed, or what if he convinced him to stay and ride horses. He wanted to just come to relax, spend time with his uncle, and celebrate his birthday, then go home. Not only that, he had no idea how many other riders were boarding there. Were they all as social as the guy on the phone? Would he be forced to interact with them? Although, now that Lloyd thought about it, talking with Kaari wasn’t that hard. Then again, he’d only interacted with him for about an hour. He’d have to be around these people for a month.

Lloyd let out a sigh. That relaxation was short lived. 

He was hoping Wu would be there as soon as he arrived. Even better, he’d be waiting for him, and Lloyd wouldn’t have to partake in any social interaction.

Lloyd pushed his fear to the side. No matter what happened, he’d be friendly and polite, and try to just avoid any socialization whatsoever. 

If he was lucky, maybe he could take a nap right away.

The last five minutes of the drive were stressful, and full of anxiety for no good reason. Why did he have to be like this.

Lloyd checked the time, 11:48. Awesome, he was going to be early. 

He followed the road and eventually reached the dead end, seeing the barn slowly appear into view. Once he could see it clearly, Lloyd gasped. 

It was huge. The gravel road was bordered by pastures on the right side, and forest on the left. Looking out at all of the horses almost made Lloyd breakdown. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see much else of the area, because it was all behind the barn and trees, but he could spot the house off to the left of the barn from his point of view. The driveway however didn’t seem to lead up to the house, so he’d have to park in front of the barn. Lloyd knew there were other people there from the various cars and trucks parked in front of him.

Lloyd didn’t get out right away after parking. He needed to take a moment to breathe it all in. He was eighteen hours away from home, in the middle of the country, waiting to see his uncle, and hoping he wouldn’t try to put him on a horse right away, while he stayed at his horse farm. 

_ What am I doing here? _

Eventually, Lloyd worked up the courage to open the door and step out. It had been raining excessively for the past few days, and he could smell the wetness mixed with the fresh country air.

Dang, he missed that smell.

Lloyd didn’t grab his stuff right away and decided to go find Wu first.

He managed to take three steps before a small, brown, furry object raced right at him, barking and jumping up and down.

Lloyd yelped and put up his hands as the dog stood up and put it’s paws on his legs, trying to lick his arms. Lloyd let out a giggle as it yipped and bounced.

“Ninja! Don’t jump on the stranger!” 

The dog backed away and ran in the opposite direction towards someone else. Lloyd looked up to see his greatest nightmare.

Another person who wasn’t Wu.

She was crouched down, laughing and scratching the dog’s butt as it twirled in circles, tail wagging.

She was taller than Lloyd, with slightly shorter than shoulder length hair that was pulled into a very small and messy ponytail in the back. Her skin was tanned, light brown, and she had a mole on her right cheek. Her eyes were a pale blue. She looked friendly enough. She wore a light spring coat and black leggings, with English riding boots on her feet. 

Finally, she looked up at Lloyd and stood, a look of curiosity and amusement on her face.

“Sorry about that!” She grinned. “Ninja’s really friendly.”

Lloyd laughed awkwardly.  _ Shoot, how do I talk to people again? _

She was silent for a moment, looking him up and down as she tried to shove the dog down. “Are you here for a lesson or trail ride or something?”

Lloyd shook his head. “N-no, my uncle owns this barn and he-”

“Oh my gosh, you’re Lloyd?! Dude it’s awesome to meet you!” She no longer acted like a stranger, instead coming up and taking Lloyd’s hand to give it an excited shake. “We’ve heard a lot about you from Wu. You must be tired from the drive here! Do you need a snack or water? No wait, it’d probably be better to start with a tour!”

Her grip was tight on Lloyd’s hand, and he was overwhelmed with all she was trying to say.

“Oops, sorry, you probably don’t want to be bombarded by a stranger.” She let go of Lloyd’s hand and took a step back.

He blinked, taking a minute to regain his awareness of what was happening. “Um, s-sorry but who are you?”

She laughed. “My name’s Nya. Your uncle talks about you literally every day. We know so much about you, you don’t feel like a stranger to us anymore. Although I need to remember that you haven’t met me.”

“Uh, sorry wh-who is ‘us?’” Lloyd stuttered.

“The others. We’re practically like a family here, and we’ve prepared so much for your arrival. I can’t get over how awesome it is to meet you!”

Lloyd wrapped his arms around himself, embarrassed. “What could my uncle possibly have told you to make you think I was  _ that  _ cool?”

She bubbled with excitement. Clearly she wanted to go and do something. Ninja was picking up on her excitement too, and let out a short bark. “He’s showed us a lot of videos of you riding and showing. You’re an awesome jumper!” She glanced behind Lloyd, and frowned in confusion. “No horse?”

He followed her gaze to his truck, with no trailer attached. He shrugged awkwardly. “N-no.”

She lingered for a moment, before regaining her smile. “You wanna tour?”

“Wait, where’s Wu?”

“Oh, he’s out running errands, but he’ll be back soon. Come on!” She reached forward and grabbed Lloyd’s hand again, yanking him forward and causing him to stumble as she started toward the open barn door.

Lloyd was too sheepish to tell her he didn't want a tour, and he'd prefer to just go to sleep, so he followed reluctantly.

Immediately he could tell that this was all cleaned very recently. Lining the entrance to the barn were all the stables. A few of them had horses, and Lloyd had to resist the urge to approach them.

Gosh he’d missed horses.

“Here are the stables, obviously. You can often see horses in here right now, and there are enough to fit pretty much all the horses if it's storming really badly outside. We haven't had to do that in a while though, and it's a hassle. Hope we don't have to do that.” She told Lloyd the names of the horses as they passed, most of which were boarded by other people who supposedly Nya didn't know as well as the so called “others.”

“And this is my horse,” she said as they approached the end of the row. She gestured to the stall where a beautiful horse stood facing the other direction. She was a dark bay, with a coronet marking on each leg. Her mane was long and flowing, and her coat shined. Clearly, she’d been groomed well very recently. 

Nya whistled and the horse turned her head, where Lloyd could see she had a thin, interrupted stripe. She let out a snort and walked toward the stable door, sticking her head out of the open window, where Nya pet her nose.

“She's a beauty ain't she?” Nya sighed.

Lloyd approached slowly, and the horse turned her head to look at him. She flicked her ears and extended her nose to sniff the new stranger. He reached out and stroked her muzzle gently. 

Nya laughed. “I know she's amazing but it's not like Nami's a magical unicorn. You act like this is the first time you've touched a horse.”

“With how long it's been, it might as well be…” Lloyd muttered. 

Nya started walking away, and he stepped back to follow.

They walked the rest of the way down the entrance hall, which opened up to a large indoor arena. On the right was another way to get out or in the barn, and next to the entrance were some metal bleachers. In between the entrance and the bleachers was a tie stall with a hose. In front of us and down the left side of the arena were a bunch of places to tie up horses

“Right here is the tack room.” She gestured to an open door to the left that Lloyd hadn't noticed. “A little further that way are the bathrooms, and even further is the ‘bar.’ If you could call it that.”

She pointed at everything in the barn, telling Lloyd what it was and what it was used for, before walking up to the arena. 

“Hey, Kai! Look who's here!” She waved to someone who Lloyd hadn't noticed, lunging a flaxen sorrel with a blaze and stocking on it's left back leg.

The boy stopped the horse with slight trouble and turned around. He grinned when he spotted Lloyd.

“Well! You must be Lloyd!” He clicked to the horse and it followed him to the arena fence. 

From his voice, Lloyd could immediately tell that this was the guy who’d answered the phone last night.

Nya leaned over the fence to pet the horse. The sorrel pulled back at first but soon let her pat his nose. She looked down at Lloyd. 

“Lloyd, this is my brother Kai, and his horse, Flame.”

Lloyd waved shyly.

“Sup dude. We've all been excited for your arrival. We spent a long time cleaning the place up. Hopefully you're as cool as your uncle says, and the cleaning was all worth it.” He hung the lead rope over his shoulder and rubbed Flame's ear.

“So uh… what do  _ you  _ do,” Lloyd asked. He was wearing a red flannel and old jeans with boots, so he assumed he was a western rider, based off stereotypes.

Kai shrugged. “Oh, ya know. Usually barrel racing, but I'm working on possibly doing reigning a bit. I also used to do roping but I’ve kinda moved away from it.”

Lloyd nodded awkwardly.

“I heard you're a jumper. Are you gonna show us some of that?” He asked with energy. Lloyd could definitely tell Kai and Nya were related.

He laughed in fear. “I don't know, maybe.”

Kai nodded. “Well, I gotta get back to work with this little guy so I'll talk to you later.” He started to step away, but then turned back quickly. “Oh, uh one more thing. Nya, I'm having some trouble with lunging him. Could you watch and see if something's wrong?”

Nya frowned. “Sure… but why the sudden problems?”

Kai shrugged as he stepped back a bit to give the horse room. “It's not a huge problem. He just doesn't want to stop on time for me.”

Nya nodded, signaling him to start.

Kai loosened his grip on the rope, pointing the direction he wanted Flame to go and clicked. Flame responded almost immediately, and Lloyd was impressed by his obedience. He had seemed like an energetic horse at the fence a few seconds ago.

Flame tossed his head, and eventually, Kai took a step and tugged gently on the rope. Flame didn't stop right away, and he ended up at a slight angle, rather than facing Kai.

“Hm…” Nya sighed. “I don't know, maybe you should ask Wu when-”

“You took a small step when you turned your body,” Lloyd interrupted. “If he's as well trained as he seems, you should be able to stop him without taking a step. You were probably just unfocused, probably from a lack of sleep.” I chuckled to myself. “I did the same thing all the time. Also, he looks a little lame on his front right. Might wanna give him a small break and see if that helps.” Lloyd stopped, realizing he had intruded on their discussion. “Oh, uh, sorry. I'll be quiet.”

“No, no,” Kai reassured. “That was helpful. I  _ have  _ been a little tired lately, and he was pretty lame a little bit ago… maybe my small lack of practice messed up my technique, and maybe he's not fully healed.”

Nya looked at me with a smile. “Well, you know your stuff.”

Lloyd shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets out of embarrassment.

Kai went back to work, while Nya led Lloyd towards the other open door to the right.

“Out here is the fun stuff.” She pointed to the left just outside the door, and he blinked in surprise when he saw the chicken coop, with a small fenced area that could fit about five chickens. Which is probably how many were standing there.

“This is the chicken coop. Because we like chickens.” She didn't explain anymore, and gestured to the doghouse in front of the coop, occupied by Ninja. Lloyd didn't remember the dog leaving their side, but he supposed that was why he was called Ninja.

“This is Ninja's doghouse. Behind the chicken coop, is where our goats live. We have a few riders here who do goat tying, and they use them to practice, but don't worry, we care for them well.”

We walked a little further out the door, and Nya pointed to the right, where a path went as far as Lloyd could see, lined on either side by pastures.

“Those our the pastures where the horses stay…” She gestured forward. “These are the outdoor arenas, behind one of them is the cattle pasture… and down the left path is the race track. Down by the road where you came in is the entrance and exit to the forest trail.

Lloyd raised an eyebrow. “You have a track?”

She nodded. “In fact, Jay and Cole might be down there right now…” She lit up. “We should go say hi!”

“Oh it’s okay I-” 

“Nonsense! We’re saying hi.” She grabbed Lloyd’s arm again and they started down the left path toward the track.

Lloyd sighed. He could already tell that he wasn’t going to have fun with these people. They were being way too pushy. 

It was a fairly long walk to the track, and there were some young kids having a lesson with an older japanese woman in one of the arenas.

“Hey, Mystakè,” Nya greeted.

She waved back, but her expression held a hint of annoyance.

They were quiet as they made our way to the track, and the awkward silence was somehow more uncomfortable than anything so far. However, Lloyd decided to just play along and continue on the tour instead of leaving to sleep. He was eager to see Wu before he settled in to rest.

They got to the puddle covered track. Lloyd looked back and forth, no one in sight.

“Guess they’re not here,” he mumbled. 

Suddenly, a light thumping sound slowly grew louder from down the track. A sound that could only be horse hooves.

Nya looked to the left down the track and smiled. “Get ready,” she giggled.

The hooves got louder, and Lloyd followed her gaze to see two horses running down the track. They weren’t incredibly fast, but their riders were acting like they were flying.

“Having trouble keeping up?!” Lloyd heard one of them shout faintly.

“I’m saving my energy for the final stretch! Ya know, like a smart person!”

“Ha, you know me and Wisp both got energy to spare!”

When they raced by, it almost felt like the world slowed down. The boy in the lead glanced down with a grin, before turning his attention back to the race.

They sped around the turn, and Lloyd got a look at their horses run. The smaller one was a chestnut overo paint with a bald face, solid legs, a white belly that extended onto her left hip with a crooked edge, and a storm cloud shaped patch on her right shoulder. There were small white patches on her neck and sides, giving her an even more interesting appearance. The other was a taller cremello horse with bright blue eyes. 

As he watched them gallop down the track, Lloyd couldn’t help but let out a sigh seeing their grace and power. It’d been a while since  _ he’d  _ galloped like that. He missed it.

The paint pulled ahead quickly, and the cremello had no chance to catch up.

As they crossed the finish line, the rider on the paint stood up in his saddle and threw up a fist, laughing cheerfully. The other rider didn’t seem to care though. If anything, he seemed to be used to losing.

They ran for a bit, letting the horses slow down before turning around and walking back to greet Lloyd and Nya.

The rider on the cremello laughed. “One day, Jay… I’ll beat you one day.”

Jay scoffed, “Oh please Cole, you’ve been trying for years. You aren’t going to catch me.”

Cole shrugged with a smile, and they walked up to the fence, hopping off the horses and leading them towards the closed gate.

“Could you open it for us, Nya?” Jay asked, while Nya was already working on the clip. Lloyd stood by awkwardly as the three of them started talking.

“Why are you riding Shard?” Nya asked Cole curiously.

“Zane needed to take Titan earlier than expected, so he asked me if I could exercise him.”

Nya nodded, and it looked like she was going to say something more, until she remembered Lloyd was there.

“Oh yeah! Guys guess what!” She skipped over to him and began showing him off like he was a prize on some game show. “Lloyd’s here.”

The two lit up, and they walked their horses over to greet him.

“I'm Jay!” the small one said. “And this is Wisp, my horse.” He patted her on the neck and she tossed her head, clearly still full of energy from the race.

“And I'm Cole. This is  _ not  _ my horse, it's Zane's, but I'm riding him for a bit.” He smiled. “We've heard a lot about you.”

Lloyd laughed awkwardly. “You guys keep saying that, how much did Wu tell you?”

Cole shrugged and the four started back to the barn so they could put their horses away.

Lucky for Lloyd, they found a familiar face heading toward the barn, leading a tall, bay thoroughbred mare.

“Uncle Wu!” Lloyd called, jogging to catch him.

He turned and smiled brightly when he saw the young boy. He dropped the lead rope of his horse and pulled me into a tight hug. He was strong for such an old man.

“It’s about time I see you again!” He laughed. “I have so much planned for this month.” 

He grabbed Lloyd by the shoulders and held him out in front of him. “You’ve grown so much in the past eight months!” He scanned my face and frowned. “You’ve been taking care of yourself right?”

Lloyd hesitated. “Yeah… of course.”

He sighed. His horse had wandered a few steps so he grabbed the rope and led Lloyd and the horse both inside. 

He tied up his horse and gestured for Lloyd to follow as he headed toward the tack room. He was vaguely aware of Jay, Cole and Nya coming in the barn behind them and tying up their horses.

Wu grabbed his grooming box as he spoke to him.

“Do you need help taking your bags inside the house? I’ve got a room set up for you and everything.”

Lloyd sighed in relief. “I really need a nap,” he admitted, sounding more pathetic than he intended.

Wu nodded. “I’m gonna take care of Champ, then I’ll help you out.”

Lloyd frowned. “Champ?”

“My horse.”

“Oh please,” Jay snorted, carrying in a saddle. “Tell him who your horse  _ really  _ is.”

Lloyd looked at Wu curiously. 

He smiled, heading out of the tack room. When we returned to the horse’s side, he stepped back, showing off the tall mare. “Do you know who she is?”

Lloyd frowned, crossing his arms and tilting his head. The horse was bay, but a lighter bay than Nami, and instead of an interrupted stripe, she had a star and snip, with no leg markings.

Lloyd shrugged. “I don’t know, who?”

Jay came up from behind, resting his arm on Wu’s shoulder. “Why she’s only the best, the greatest, the fastest, Firstborn Champion!”

Lloyd’s jaw dropped. “No way! How the heck-” he stepped closer to the horse, and she turned her head to get a look at him. “You mean  _ the  _ Firstborn Champion? The famous racehorse who had a crazy winning streak, until she got a new jockey, which for some reason broke her winning streak and ended her career?  _ That  _ Firstborn Champion?”

Wu laughed. “Well, yeah I suppose so.”

“How the heck did you get your hands on her? She’s probably worth a fortune!” 

“A kind lady bought her so she wouldn’t be slaughtered, then held an auction for her about a month later. Your father helped me with the money, but I just happened to be in the town of her auction and couldn’t help myself.”

Lloyd reached out carefully and patted her nose as if she was made of glass. 

Everyone was silent for a moment when suddenly Wu spoke up. 

“Wanna ride her?”

Lloyd flinched. “No… no thanks.”

Wu frowned sadly, and the other riders shot him a confused glance as they brushed down their horses.

Wu put an arm around Lloyd’s shoulder and led him aside.

“You can’t avoid horses forever, Lloyd,” he whispered once they were out of earshot of the others.

“I know, and I’m not. I came to the farm didn’t I?”  
He gave Lloyd a sympathetic look. “Lloyd, I know what happened with Jitzu was devastating to you, but you have to move on.”  
“I have,” Lloyd hissed through gritted teeth. “I just don’t want to ride another horse… At least not for a while.”  
Wu sighed, rubbing his temples. 

“Did you tell them? About… Jitzu?”

He shook his head. “No, that is your information to reveal when you are ready. I know how much you hate being pitied, and I know you’d hate it even more if they were strangers.”

Lloyd relaxed a little at that, but he continued to frown at his uncle.

“I'm not going to ride this month.”

Wu smirked, catching Lloyd off guard. “Don't worry, I'm making it my mission to get you on a horse before you leave.” He turned to head back to his horse, but stopped when Lloyd didn't follow. “And maybe, I'll get you to participate in the big competition at the end of the month…”

Lloyd scoffed. “Fat chance.”

He shrugged and returned to his horse's side. Lloyd considered going to get his bags himself, but decided it would be easier to wait for Wu.

He walked over to the arena to watch Kai, but was a little puzzled by what he was doing.

Flame was simply wandering around the arena without restrictions. Kai was laying across him bareback, eyes closed, and the lead rope was simply tossed over Flame's shoulders to keep it off the ground.

Somehow, Kai was able to tell Lloyd was watching, and he opened one eye curiously. “What's up?”

Lloyd blinked, surprised he was talking to him.  _ Crap, social interaction.  _ “Oh uh, just… you're gonna just let him wander around like that?”

Kai smiled. “Yeah. He's pretty lazy so he ain't going anywhere.”

Lloyd scowled. “But, the lead rope is just hanging there?”

“Yeah.”

“You have no control. What if he were to take off or something?”

Kai sat up, still smiling. “I trust him. He trusts me. I know he won't put me in danger on purpose, and he knows I'll keep him safe. Besides, all of us here ride bareback a lot. I can stay on a bucking horse if he decides to spook. And even if I  _ do  _ fall off...” He ran his fingers through Flame’s mane. “I’ll be fine.”

“Hm.” Lloyd could relate to the trust. Him and Jitzu were close, but at his old barn, no one just rode around bareback without control. No one ever raced around a track for fun. No one even talked to each other there unless they were forced to. A small part of him envied the way these people rode, but he shook it off. 

_ This guy is risking his safety, I shouldn’t be envying him. _

Kai seemed to sense that the conversation was over, so he stretched and leaned back to lay on the horse’s butt instead. 

_ What type of riders are these people? _

“Hey Lloyd!”

He turned to see Jay and Cole waving him over. He didn’t want to be rude so he reluctantly approached them.

Jay beamed, “What’s up dude? You look bored standing over there. You know, you can come talk to us.”

“We don’t bite,” Cole added. 

Lloyd chuckled awkwardly. “Well, I don’t really know what to talk about… I guess I could learn more about you?”

_ Not that I care. _

“Since you know so much about  _ me _ already.”

Cole grinned. “Sure! What do you want to know?”

Lloyd tried to speak, but his voice caught. He looked around for Wu as support, but he was in the tack room.

They exchanged a confused and concerned look.

“You good dude?” Jay asked.

Lloyd took a breath. “Yeah, fine. I was just wondering what you do? Er, how do you ride?”

Jay laughed. “Well Wisp is trained in jumping, but I've never really done a competition. Mostly because it scares me.”

Jay didn't seem like the type of person to get nervous.

“I mostly just ride for fun,” Cole said, patting the cremello. “But Shard is trained in barrel racing.”

Lloyd tilted his head. “And he's not yours.” 

Cole shook his head. “Shard is Zane's horse, but I'm exercising him until he gets back from a surgery with his other horse, Titan.”

Lloyd nodded. “Do you have your own horse?”

“Yes he does!” Nya said suddenly, making him jump. She approached holding the lead ropes of two horses. One of them was hers, and the other was a black Morgan gelding.

Cole stepped forward and took the lead rope of the black gelding. “This is Rocky.” He reached into his back pocket, pulling out a sugar cube and feeding it to the horse casually.

Jay rolled his eyes. “Geez, Cole. You give him so many sugar cubes he's gonna get sick.”

Cole shrugged with a grin and led Rocky to tie him up next to Shard. The two horses looked at each other for a moment, but soon returned to minding their own business.

Nya stopped and tied up Nami in between Champ and Wisp, and let out a small laugh. “Do you wanna ride Shard for a bit? He's a really good horse.”

Lloyd blinked in surprise. “What?” 

“You were watching him pretty closely on the race track. I'm sure Zane wouldn't mind if you wanted to-”

“No thanks!” Lloyd squeaked a little loud. He cleared my throat and laughed in embarrassment. “I mean, I'm honestly really tired… uh, uncle Wu? Are you done yet?”

He peeked around from the other side of Champ with a frown. “I'm not nearly done-”

Lloyd gave him his signature sad, tired face and he sighed. “Okay, I'll help get you set up. Kai!”

Kai called out from the arena, “Yeah?” 

“Do you think you could brush down and tack up Firstborn? Then take Shard out when you're done?”

“Yeah sure. I was gonna bring Flame back out anyway.”

“Awesome.” Wu put an arm on my shoulder with a sigh. “Alright come on. Let's go get your stuff.”

For some reason, the very small amount of stuff Lloyd had was surprising and apparently slightly concerning for Wu.

“Why do you have such a small amount of stuff? You’ll have to do laundry like, three times a week!” He sighed. “Why did you even need my help?”

I scoffed. “It’s not  _ that  _ small, and I’m tired.”

The walk to the house from Lloyd’s truck wasn't very fun, and he dropped a bag or two.

“You know there’s a small driveway up by the house right?” Wu asked when they were a little over halfway to the house.

I blushed in embarrassment. “Oh… I didn’t see it when I drove up…”

Wu nodded. “It’s kind of hidden by the trees. I don’t blame you for missing it.

The house was surprisingly big, but cozy. When they walked through the door, Lloyd felt strangely at home. There was a long hallway right at the entrance, and Wu showed Lloyd around, pointing out the kitchen, living room, bathroom, and a spare bedroom on the bottom floor. Lloyd assumed that’s where he would be sleeping, but Wu took him and his bags upstairs instead, where there were several more bedrooms.

Apparently the other riders he'd met stay on the ranch through the summer. They not only keep their horses here, but also help around the barn a lot. Wu said they might as well all own the place.

Wu told Lloyd other things about the riders as well, such as the fact that Nya helps him train horses, Zane, who I keep hearing about but haven't met yet, is also trained in hoof care and is basically their farrier, Cole helps organize events like shows and rodeos, Jay helps with vet stuff, as well as foals and their dams, while Kai helps teach lessons and get kids excited for riding, as well as hosting trail rides. But they all helped each other with everything. 

Lloyd was surprised that a group with such wild personalities could be so productive and organized. Wu laughed and told him they were far from organized and no where near productive. 

Wu set up Lloyd’s bed and stepped back. “Were you gonna sleep right away…?”

He nodded eagerly.

Wu looked disappointed but nodded. “I'll wake you up in an hour and a half when we eat lunch.” 

Lloyd nodded. “Okay.”

Wu smiled. “I'm so glad you're here, Lloyd.” 

“Yeah, me too.”

Wu turned and left, closing the door behind him.

Lloyd practically collapsed onto the bed, letting out a sigh and falling asleep almost immediately.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeet horses. I have a lot of ideas for this AU and the plot is really put together so updates for this will hopefully be fairly often but who knows. chapter two will be out really soon though since it picks up right where chapter one ends so I’ll post it quick to avoid confusion.   
Yes I'm one of those people who puts their OCs in everything what can I say Kaari's my kid.  
I'll probably change the title but for now that's it. Thank my friend.


End file.
